It’s not hard to argue that she has the world by the tail right now, and I’d like to think that if she continues her meteoric popularity (especially among the age range of kids whose parents are shelling out big bucks to go see her) then maybe she might be able to have some sort of impact?
Even if it’s a “I don’t care who you vote for {wink, wink} but just PLEASE register as soon as you turn 18, and get out and vote you guys” at the end of her sold out shows (kinda like Bob Barker telling our generation to get the pets spayed and neutered?)
Seems like she could manage even more “street cred” with the younger generation than even Lebron, etc could. And you gotta think that if there were pollsters at the gates of these sold out stadium shows, the split would have to be a 80 (D) vs 20 (R) split, right? So if nothing else, she’d be reaching out to “our kind of people” (as opposed to Ftucker Carlson, Hannity, etc).
And I would hope that she just wouldn’t give a damn about getting any pushback like Colin Kaepernick, the USWNT, Bud Light, etc have received. I doubt that the winds shift so quickly that she’d end up playing to half-empty stadiums in 2024 if the Jason Aldeaning moms and dads try some sort of “boycott” nonsense.
I was pleasantly surprised to read that there’s actually precedent for her to have shown some level of interest in politics in the recent “post-2015-Escalator” era. Perhaps she can help get the under-30 crowd to the polls, let President Obama hopefully drive out the over-50 crowd, and then pray for at least a split in that 30 - 50 age range.
Numbers:
2024 she is scheduled for 82 Concerts. 2023 was 77.
She averages 54,000 fans per concert.
So next year she will be seen live by about 4,428,000 people mostly in the under 30 crowd.
So in theory she could actually have an impact in some of the swing states.
Expected Swing or battleground states:
Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina and Nevada.
So hopefully she has many concerts scheduled in those 6 states.
My first thoughts was probably very little effect until I ran the numbers.
Some of these swing states will be so close that she might indeed make a difference.
I dont care who it is, but we do need some celebrities to get out and dispel the propaganda that “both parties are the same” " voting doesnt matter" etc, some of which the Kremlin loves to spread over here.
Yeah, I think that was what I was shooting for. “Somebody will hopefully pick up the baton, and who else could currently do it better?”.
Then I thought “well who knows, she probably doesn’t even have an opinion, and will continue to stay out of the muck”. So I was pleasantly surprised when I found that one cite from 2020.
My point exactly about the timing. A month before the election is too late for Swift to have an effect. Despite the millions and millions of her fans a large percentage of them aren’t old enough to vote, or even old enough to drive. Assuming we even want her to affect the election she has to start soon, and have some strategy to our words and actions. She’s not a political figure now and has to establish herself as one.
On top of that, we only know only a little bit about the political views of this rich privileged woman.
Yes, but only nine are in the US, and they’re in Florida, Louisiana, and Indiana. They are in the weeks right before the election, though.
I think she could make a difference around the margins, especially if she decides to get more explicitly involved and bring attention to particular aspects of the race.
But who knows? She’s on such a streak right now that she could probably BE the President in 2024 if she wanted to be. Interestingly, she would turn 35 (and thus be eligible) between the election and the inauguration.
I don’t think the numbers for live concert attendance are particularly significant, other than an indication of the massive size of her total fan base. Her biggest impact would surely be on all her fans through social media.
It’s obvious from her interviews on general topics that she’s not deplorable and not an idiot, and she’s too young to remember a time when there were Republicans who were not deplorable idiots, so I think we can safely infer that she’s not a Republican.
Oprah Winfrey endorsed John Fetterman in 2022, and he beat Dr. Oz. But Winfrey campaigned hard for Stacey Abrams in Georgia and Abrams lost. Granted there were some shenanigans in Georgia that may have affected the Georgia vote, but Sean Hannity campaigned for Herschel Walker in Georgia, and that wasn’t enough to help Walker win.
Combine these ideas, and yes, she could have a huge impact without endorsing anyone or even hinting at a party preference. Her demographic – who absolutely need to be told that their vote does matter – will likely lean blue and can make a big difference in swing states.
Plus, she’s big enough right now to withstand any right wing backlash. Who could argue with “Please vote. It matters!”?
OK, back to the subject. I think she could get lots of young people voting with a simple message to register and get out there to vote.
I’m sure she would get pushback from people like, say, Kid Rock, Jason Aldean, and others, that she should stay in her lane and keep out of politics. But her fans won’t care about that and she’s too big to have any boycott have any material effect.
